High About a New Low!

Hi,

I could hardly believe it when I stepped on the scale this morning and read 317.75!! It was like a miracle and I was able to picture myself getting below the 300 mark. This program is really working. As I thought about it, I realized that when I get just under the 300 mark I will again be the weight I was at Kellies wedding. Her son is a teenager now, so that is about how long ago that was. I believe he may be about 17, so it was about 18 years ago. I still have the dress I wore then and I will be very happy to wear it again one day.

I must say that I have been contemplating making a slight change based on my experience. I am not sure it is the right thing to do. I dont want to just succumb to my own trick thinking. Here is the problem that I am trying to solve. About two or three days after the cheat meal I begin to highly crave another bit of either high sugar or carb. I am considering adding, not another cheat meal, but one cheat item/serving on day three to carry me past that episode with less stress. I could also simply make it a "floater" and do it when the craving hits but limit it to one item, one serving, one day per week sometime between day one and day six.

I have indulged that one item crave nearly every week, but since that is a deviation from the program I end up feeling guilty and creating a lot of stress for myself. Yet, the program is still working, so it seems plausible that I might be able to simply work in one cheat item on day three (or whenever), simply as a regular part of the program. If it is part of the program I wont have to feel so guilty about it. It often seems to happen on a day that I exercise, too.

I certainly dont want to jeopardize my weight loss progress with my new addition. I just want to smooth things out for myself. I shall try it this week and see how it goes. If, over time, it becomes too hard to manage and I start wanting something every day, I will know that I am being tricked by the addiction. But, if it does not slow my progress and is not too hard to handle I will continue with it. So here goes. Making the change.

Today was day seven of week four and I had my cheat meal of tomato, black bean and hamburger soup with rice on the side. I ended up eating the whole pan of rice which had been made with 1.3 cups of dry rice and 3 cups of water with salt and spices. I set the timer (because of the one-hour time limit) and started with a large bowl of the beans and rice mixed together. It was tasty but something was lacking. I am still not sure what was missing. So then I had two bowls of plain rice with butter -- on the last one I liberally sprinkled some xylitol and cinnamon to make it like a dessert. It was not exactly like rice pudding but it was OK. It is now about 5 hours later and I still feel full. I am not exactly sure what to do with all the left over soup.

I am considering either putting the large jar of soup into the freezer to use at some later time or doling it into plastic bags for smaller portions that would be more convenient to use. I could also just throw it out. If I was not currently suffering with another sinus and bronchial cold, I would give it to some friends but I dont want to share my germs with them. Ill probably just place the jar in the freezer and be done with it. 

After a meal like that one I have found that I usually put on about two pounds the next morning but, so far, it has simply dropped off the next day and then the weight loss continues. After a meal like that one, I also find myself ready to return to my nice meals of raw vegetables and protein. They simply make my body feel better.

I hope you are doing well. Feel free to comment either on the content of the blog or on your life and situation. Please dont hide if things are not going well. You can get yourself out of a hole much faster by sharing about it and then moving on to better things. For me this blog seems to keep me headed in the right direction.

God bless you,

Be back soon,

Marcia

2 cups of milk a day ideal for childrens health new research shows

New research has answered one of the most common questions parents ask their doctors: How much milk should I be giving my children? The answer is two cups per day.

"We started to research the question because professional recommendations around milk intake were unclear and doctors and parents were seeking answers," said Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a paediatrician at St. Michaels Hospital and the lead author of the study.

Dr. Maguire and his team looked at how cows milk affected body stores of iron and vitamin D – two of the most important nutrients in milk – in more than 1,300 children aged two to five years.

The results of the study appeared online in Pediatrics today.

They found that children who drank more cows milk had higher Vitamin D stores but lower iron stores.

"We saw that two cups of cows milk per day was enough to maintain adequate vitamin D levels for most children, while also maintaining iron stores. With additional cows milk, there was a further reduction in iron stores without greater benefit from vitamin D," Dr. Maguire said.

The researchers recruited healthy children during routine doctors appointments between 2008 and 2010. Parents were asked to fill out an extensive questionnaire about their childrens milk drinking habits and other factors that could affect iron and Vitamin D stores. A blood sample was obtained from each child to determine body stores of iron and Vitamin D.

The children were participating in TARGet Kids!, a unique collaboration between childrens doctors and researchers from St. Michaels Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children. The program follows children from birth with the aim of understanding and preventing common nutrition problems in the early years and their impact on health and disease later in life.

The study also suggested that children with darker skin pigmentation may not have enough vitamin D stores during the winter months. Dr. Maguire suggested that instead of consuming more milk to increase these levels, wintertime vitamin D supplementation may be a more appropriate way of increasing vitamin D stores while preserving iron stores.

"Vitamin D deficiency in children has been linked to bone health issues and iron deficiency has been linked to anemia and delays in cognitive development," Dr. Maguire said. "Being able to answer parents questions about healthy cows milk intake is important to avoiding these potentially serious complications of low vitamin D and iron stores."

Combine Chronic Conditions and Facebook A New Start Up Called Woebook

Its the Disease Management Care Blogs 31st wedding anniversary. To celebrate, the happy couple is at hideaway that offers what the DMCB spouse ers to as "chaise lounges." She patted one next to hers and asked the DMCB sit, relax and "converse."

Thats when the DMCB excitedly pointed out that Facebooks launch has many lessons, including the overlaps between hype and greed, the wackiness of giving money to a 28 year old hoodie-wearing oddball and the certainty that if everyone could only "friend" everyone, cheap solar power would finally prevail.  Inspired by the luster of a multi-billion dollar IPO, it thinks now is the time to cash out the retirement funds, leverage the DMCBs brand and launch its own social media offering called "Woebook."

The User Profile: This will list any and all medical conditions that may lect a users, family members or friends medical history, or a professional interest or a passing hobby. If you dont know your condition, a partnership with IBMs "Watson" will assign one to you. If you have no condition, a bank of specialists will be on call to make one up for you.

Friends: Communities of the Diseased will spring up, share symptoms and insights and give special meaning to the term "poked."

Marketing: Instead of relying of some claptrap on how targeted and intrusive ads somehow "enrich" the users "experience," Woebook will be honest and announce its intent to bludgeon users with what they really want: information on pricey brand name drugs and the latest and most expensive medical devices.

Privacy Settings: While the default is HIPAA-level privacy and the threat of unending visits by U.S. Department of Justice bullies, Woebook will maintain a jumbotron in Silicon Valley that will rotate the pages of users who have selected the "maximally voyeur" privacy setting. Banner ads scrolling across the bottom will generate tons of advertising revenue. Best of all, those annoying Millennials in their BMWs will be reminded that something incurable is waiting them just a few years away.

Speaking of Ads: Youll have to give permission to have them appear on your pages. If you accept that option, the DMCBs Woebook will share its vast ad income with you. Users will also have the option of sanctioning spurious, malicious or uncool ads and, if enough votes are collected, the ad and the sponsoring company will be banned. That includes for profits, not-for-profits, government agencies and candidates for U.S President.

Photo sharing: You bet, including but not limited to that unsightly and tough-to-diagnose rash or non-healing sore, x-ray images and scans of the mysterious "this is not a bill" documentation.

The DMCB spouse is unsurprisingly not ready to cash out and commit the 401K. Angel investors are free to call for a copy of the Woebook business plan.

New study suggests using sedentary behavior counseling in primary care

Although primary care physicians take care of many aspects of health and disease, little is known about how they can change sedentary behavior through counseling, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Results from a new study suggest encouraging patients to decrease the time they spend sitting each day may be feasible in the primary care setting.

“Reducing sedentary time can be done by virtually everyone and requires smaller changes in energy expenditure than meeting physical activity guidelines, which usually entails a complex behavior change particularly for inactive patients,” said Kerem Shuval, Ph.D., principal investigator and assistant professor of epidemiology at The University of Texas School of Public Health Dallas Regional Campus, part of UTHealth. “Reducing sedentary time helps promote health and primary care physicians can play a major role in modifying their patients’ sedentary behavior, particularly because adults spend many of their waking hours each day sitting or in passive leisure activities.”

Results were recently published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Unlike physical activity counseling, which has been investigated over the years, sedentary behavior counseling is a new term used in this study to describe a dialogue with a patient about the harmful effects of prolonged uninterrupted sitting. The average amount of time spent sitting or reclining during waking hours in the United States is almost 8hours per day, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

In this study, Shuval and his colleagues asked adult primary care patients whether their providers asked, advised and encouraged them to modify their physical activity and sedentary behavior in the past year. The “5A” (ask, advise, agree, assist and arrange) framework was used to examine these questions.

Study results indicated that within the last year, only 10 percent of patients received sedentary behavior counseling compared to 53 percent who received physical activity counseling. No patients received a plan pertaining to decreasing sedentary behavior; however, 14 percent were provided with a written plan for increasing physical activity. More social support and specific strategies for behavior change were provided as it relates to increasing physical activity than decreasing sedentary behavior. Obese patients were more likely to receive counseling to decrease their sitting time.

“Accumulating evidence has found prolonged sitting to be associated with increased risk for chronic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes as well as premature death,” said Shuval, who is also an adjunct professor at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center at UT Southwestern.

Sedentary behavior has emerged as a new field of scientific investigation due to the detrimental health effects of prolonged sitting, according to Shuval. A number of studies have begun to explore the impact of interventions specifically focused on reducing and breaking up sedentary time.

“Our study provides initial insight into sedentary behavior counseling practices in the primary care setting,” said Shuval. “Additional research is needed prior to developing programs to change patients’ sedentary behavior.” Several countries have already begun to provide general recommendations to decrease sedentary time.